Tajik authorities looking into reports about alleged death of ISIS commander Khalimov

10:59, 11 September 2017, 1387

AKIPRESS.COM - The Interior Ministry of Tajikistan said will look into reports about alleged death of Gulmurod Khalimov, ex-commander of Tajik police who became the IS militant.

Spokesman of the Tajik police Umardjon Emomali told Ozodi radio that the Interior Ministry has already sent a request to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Tajik authorities plan to get the reliable information about the death of Khalimov, he said.

Reports about his death appeared earlier in mass media. Now the information has been spread by the Ministry of Defense of Russia.

"The authorities, as a rule, report about such cases only after receiving the reliable information," the spokesman noted.

The Russian Defense Ministry on September 8 said that Gulmurod Khalimov has been recently killed as a result of the Russian attack on Deir ez-Zor. Khalimov and three other high-ranked military commanders of the IS were killed during the meeting in the command point of the terrorists, the report said.

"About 40 IS militants were eliminated," the Ministry of Defense said.

Halimov, often referred to as the IS "minister of war," is a former commander of the Tajik Interior Ministry's riot police, known as OMON, who had received U.S. training while serving in that position. He is accused of treason in Tajikistan.

Last year, the U.S. offered $3 million reward for information about the location of the former commander of the Tajik police.